Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Sleeping bag advice

Opinions , thoughts, brand suggestions please.

1. Mummy or semi rectangle sleeping bag only

2. Semi cold deer camp bunk house ( 15 to 25 degrees sometimes)

3. Truck camping in the same bunk house conditions

I know the negatives of down with regards to it getting wet but what are the pluses over synthetic?

Light weight and compressability. Which aren't at the top of the list for your needs. Personally, for sleeping in a bunk or car camp I like a big roomy rectangular bag. Just make sure to get one that has a good draft collar you can cinch up.

If your not carrying it then synthetic bag for sure in my opinion. Get whatever size and shape you prefer for comfort. It will be a lot cheaper than getting down.

I use down bags and quilts for backpacking but I’m concerned about weight to warmth ratio and compressibility. In any other situation where I don’t have to carry it, I use a synthetic. My expensive down bag or quilt don’t get used for that stuff.

Boxerdog:

There are a wide range of suitable options for sleeping in a bunk house or for truck camping. In those situations, the weight of the sleeping bag is not very important. The most important benefit of goose down is that it is lightweight. So you don't need to spend the extra $$$ to get goose down insulation. You only need down when you want to keep your backpack lightweight. Also in that situation, you don't need to use a mummy bag either. A semi-rectangular bag can be more comfortable and again since you're not trying to keep things lightweight, you might as well have the extra comfort of the slightly bigger bag.

Manufacturers temperature ratings on sleeping bags vary widely and for most of the less expensive synthetic sleeping bags the mfg temp rating is unreliable. So, for use in situations where temps may get down to 15°, I suggest that you get a bag with a 0° temp rating. You can always unzip the bag if it's a little warm but you can't add more bag if it's not warm enough.

Avoid cotton anywhere in the bag.

BTW, the best manufacturers of goose down sleeping bags now include a waterproofing agent to keep the goose down from compacting when it gets wet.

Suitable bags include;

Big Agnes Echo Park 0°
Coleman Big Basin 0°
Kelty Mistral 0°
Alps Mountaineering Blaze 0°
Browning Vortex 0°

Remember that your mattress is as important as your sleeping bag. This is true when sleeping on a cot also.

One more thing, remember to wear a knitted hat to bed as a night cap.

lLots of options:

https://www.wiggys.com/sleeping-bags/

KC...knows what he's talking about.

The degree rating on the bag is a suggested survival rating. Not a comfort temp.
Check out WIGGY'S He's been in Colorado for years.

Yep, he's a guy with years of experience.

For the lowest possible weight, a quilt comes on top of the list. You want the widest you can find to prevent leaks. UGQ has an extra wide version that's the widest I know of.

^^^ this, and you can machine wash them after every trip w/o degradaton. Get an xlwb 0* and you will be happy.


mike r

Mummy bags aren't the most comfortable, to me at least. If you're camping from a vehicle or in a bunkhouse, then I'd forget about the weight savings and get a regular sized bag of your choice. It'd likely be much more comfortable, if you're like me.

I don't have much advice as to the brand, but thought I'd throw that out there.

Thank you for everyone help and guidance.. I ended up getting a Nemo tempo semi rectangular bag that was on sale at rei and it came in the other day. Great all around bag for the money.

You don't want to cover your face. Your breath will put water inside the bag. A mummy will keep your head warm and your face outside the bag. A rectangular makes it hard to keep the top of your head warm so just wear a warm stocking cap. It helps a lot when it's cold.

How do you know it is a great all around bag for the money? You just got it! Great in comparison to what? When you use gear hard and your life depends on it you don't buy gear that is "great for the money".

MCH:
You're right of course. But give the guy a break. He's just getting started. He deserves the right to learn from his mistakes just like we have. When he's sleeping in a bag rated at 20°, and temps actually get down to 20°, he'll discover why he should have bought a bag rated at 0°. However, in a bunk house or truck camping he should have other things to help keep warm. So he'll be OK and he will buy a 0° bag.

How many bags do you have? Lots I bet, because you bought a cheap bag first, were dissatisfied and bought a better bag later. I did it. He'll do it and hopefully learn from the process.

All the better bags use the European rating system. With that, the bag rating doesn't keep you comfortable at that temp., it keeps you alive at that temp. Add 10 to 15 degrees to find the comfort zone.

Just honest questions.

I do have several bags, all quality bags. I never took the road of buying average gear. I took the time to ask questions from guys doing what I wanted to do. I opted to listen to the advice from experienced guys. I worked extra jobs and saved up to afford it.

Boxerdog,
Don't forget what KC said about using a sleeping pad on a cot. Or a wool blanket doubled over if you don't have a pad. But a closed cell foam pad is pretty cheap.

A cot without good insulation can be brutal. I have an insulated air mattress and put a piece of ensolite on top of that. I've slept warm down to 5 with it so far.

MCH:

Your buying strategy is the best way to buy expensive outdoor gear, maybe the best for buying anything. Maybe I am a slow learner, because I have repeated the same mistake many times with many different types of gear. I have multiples of all the most popular kinds of outdoor gear. I use only the best gear now because I have learned first hand why it's the best. But if you borrow gear from me, you will get the gear that I bought initially.

I guess that old adage is true; The cheaper your gear is, the tougher you have to be.

A cheap foam pad is a necessary accessory for sleeping in a bag on the ground or on a cot. Remember that a cot has no insulation unless you add some with a pad of some kind.

I recently had a discussion with and old hand. We both started camping and backpacking in warm climates a long time ago. He slept on the ground with only a tarp and claimed that I was a whimp because I used a cheap foam (Ensolite) pad. I said that I liked my luxury. We both had a chuckle over that.

A couple of years ago, I backpacked into timberline at 11,000' elev. It was mid-May and a cold front was moving in. I had a down sleeping bag rated at 5°, a Thermarest air mattress and a foam pad that was only 4' long. When I laid down to sleep I realized that there was a leak in the Thermarest. That short foam pad saved me from getting up in the middle of the night and packing out. Only my feet got cold, but I laid my backpack at the foot of my sleeping bag and used that to keep my feet warm.

Do you have trouble with condensation under your sleeping bag?
I do, maybe my setup is wrong when using a cot. I put down a thin closed cell pad, on top of that a foam “egg crate” pad 3” thick and down bag on top of that. The bottom of my sleeping bag gets quite wet. Solution?

Sounds like your feet are too warm and sweating.
I've never had a problem with condensation with the ensolite. Mostly I use it under a quilt so I'm sleeping right on it. If I do that with the air mattress, I get a lot of condensation.

When my wife and I were climbing Kilimanjaro last year, both of our pads deflated and we were essentially sleeping on the ground one night at 11,000 feet and the next at 13,000 feet, until they could run replacement insulated pads up to us. There were closed cell mats under us, or it would have been a total fail.

“Hard to stay warm” doesn’t do that experience justice. Thank God we had good jackets and warm hats along to help us make it through the night.

Sleeping cold sucks. Sleeping cold at altitude double sucks.

KC

My first time hiking Mount Whitney I was in the Corps stationed in Tustin. My buddy a Marine as well decided he was going to go too. I offered him a few gear items but he insisted on using his ALICE Pack, Canteens, Sleeping bag, and issued boots. On the long boring drive from MCAS Tustin to Bishop he busted my balls about buying expensive gear and not using my issued USMC gear. At Outpost camp I was the one doing the laughing. A few weekends after that we did Mount Baldy and he had all new gear!

I don't know what kind of sleeping bags the military uses now. Mine was the '70's version, stuffed with chicken feathers (with a few chickens still attached), and as warm as an ice cube. One time when in the Nat Guard, we were on maneuvers in March and sleeping on cots in the back of a 2.5. We like to have frozen in those bags. The next morning some officer discovered that he'd forgotten something important back at the armory. I quickly volunteered to drive the 50 miles back to get it. I detoured by home and grabbed my good down bag and slept comfortably the next night.

Anytime you're sleeping on a bag, you're compressing the bottom, and the R value goes to crap.

That's why Big Agnes makes bags with no insulation on the bottom, but has a sleeve to fit their insulated pad in there.

That's also why a hammock is so cold, of you don't have a bottom quilt hanging just beneath the fabric on the bottom.

I have a cot for sleeping in elk camp, and it has insulation on the underside, where me sleeping on it won't compress it.

When sleeping on the ground, I have a Thermarest or Big Agnes, and a space blanket under that.

The new military three bag system (patrol bag, inside of a heavy bag, inside of a Goretex bivy) is pretty good, although very heavy, IF you have an insulated mat and a space blanket to sleep on.

Sleeping cold sucks.

Anytime you're sleeping on a bag, you're compressing the bottom, and the R value goes to crap.

That's why Big Agnes makes bags with no insulation on the bottom, but has a sleeve to fit their insulated pad in there.

That's also why a hammock is so cold, of you don't have a bottom quilt hanging just beneath the fabric on the bottom.

I have a cot for sleeping in elk camp, and it has insulation on the underside, where me sleeping on it won't compress it.

When sleeping on the ground, I have a Thermarest or Big Agnes, and a space blanket under that.

The new military three bag system (patrol bag, inside of a heavy bag, inside of a Goretex bivy) is pretty good, although very heavy, IF you have an insulated mat and a space blanket to sleep on.

Sleeping cold sucks.

That's the whole idea behind backpacking quilts. Since the bottom insulation is worthless, they leave it off along with the zipper and bottom of the bag. You get the same warmth but without the weight and bulk. A good 0 degree quilt will weigh less than 3lb.

OP, you are in the sweet spot. In the places you describe, neither weight nor precipitation are a challenge. You didn't mention price. If you don't need a backpacking bag, with max performance and min weight, then go down all the way. It's vastly more comfortable than syn. In a bunkhouse or truck, a comfy sleeping pad is a given. It's easy for the bag to dry during the day in a truck or bunkhouse, should perspiration be a problem. When using down, I leave the bag open to dry unless I'm carrying it. I would look at CraigsList, Marketplace, or OfferUp. I find down bags easy to wash in a modern washing machine, or by hand. Better quality down is more expensive than average quality down, but is worth it. If you want to buy a premium bag, I'm sure you won't be disappointed, but I would not for your situation. For backpacking, canoeing/rafting, or float plane hunting, disregard everything I just wrote.

Good luck!

@Rock Chuck,

Agreed. I use mostly quilts now, and even when using a bag I open it like a quilt.

Better mousetrap.

I actually have used this system for ultralight hiking. It is not a light system (10 pounds with the cold weather bag, 5.5 without it), but it works VERY well. What I did was take the patrol bag, bivy sack, and compression sack. I used a tarp for the tent (again this is hiking/camping during Summer/Spring, but above treeline (10k+)) in the Rockies. I used a closed cell foam pad that I cut to fit inside the bivy sack, but below the patrol bag. I also used a thermal blanket on the ground both for heat and to protect the bivy sack a bit. The bivy sack is Gore-tex and kept water/snow from getting in to the bag. I normally wore socks to bed and if it was snowing/cold I wore a base layer. I was never really uncomfortable using this system. Even using the MSS (minus the cold weather bag that is), I was able to keep my total pack weight under 30 pounds with a week's worth of food and 2 liters of water.

While there are civilian equivalents, the way the system works is great. Because the mattress pad was inside the bivy sack I never rolled off of it. It also provided a bit more heat retention. For car camping (where you can afford the 4.5 pounds extra for the cold weather bag), it is very hard to beat the MSS on cost vs. performance.

I have used this Mil-surp system a lot, and it's a good one. It's more bulky than the higher-priced, high performance bags. I found the GoreTex bivvy that comes with it to be excellent.

As far as inflatable pads go, this thread reminds me of what I already know -- I don't trust them. A closed-cell pad is un-fugg-uppable.

When packing with my llamas in cold weather, I've found that the 3/4" felt saddle pads are great insulation. They aren't soft, though. They're like sleeping on a board. Some kind of inflatable on top of them makes a great bed.

You guys haven’t been challenged enough. Let’s find a 0 degree, ultra light (back packing) for someone 7’ tall and 245 lbs. Now where to?

If money and weight is no object, get you a Exped Mega Mat and a big old Wiggys bag and youll sleep like a baby.

Personally, I can’t stand mummy bags. My feet stayed “tied up” all night.

For the conditions you are talking about where weight isn’t a factor, I take two bags..a medium weight one inside a heavier bag and a couple of wool blankets just in case. If it comes down to using the blanket(s) I open them out, put the bags on top and then pull the blankets over the bags.

You can always remove layers but you can’t add any if you don’t have them available.

I would contact UNDERGROUND QUILTS. It's a small privately owned and operated company making high grade quilts. They might agree to making a custom size. It wouldn't be cheap but it would be high quality.

+1 on Wiggy’s, especially for truck camping, bunkhouse use. Very high quality, made in the USA and, as already mentioned, can be repeatedly washed without degrading the bag’s ability to keep you warm. Also, Wiggy’s bags can be stored in their stuff sacks and will still hold their loft.

Plus Wiggy’s makes some rectangular and wider bags that make sleeping in a sleeping bag so much more comfortable. And they are toasty. I use a quilt for backpacking but man a rectangular or semi rectangular superlite wiggys bag is the bomb in a cold truck or wall tent camp.

KC has put together a mini-manual on sleeping in the cold, along with a lot of good stuff from others in this thread.

I'd add that in a camp or truck situation, I take an extra full zip rectangular bag along that I can unzip and throw over my main sleeping bag like a quilt, or pull over it as an outer bag. Versatile and easy way to make a medium cold bag into one that will do in deep cold if the weather changes, or use only the lighter bag if it turns warm. On a vehicle camp whitetail hunt in the Canadian Rockies with a young grandson, the weather turned from 5 above to 30 below. We had good bags but throwing the open quilt bag over both of us turned shivering nights into toasty warm.

Re KC using his short closed cell pad to salvage a night with a leaky air pad: use your head and use what you have.

Duff, leaves, pine needles or fine twigs piled up under lower legs with a daypack, gaiter or stuff sack over them can keep your legs warm from frozen ground. I have placed a mitten inside my bag on my upper hip point and/or knee when those spots got cold in the bag, and gotten an hour or two of good warm sleep before the mitten slides off and I have to reposition. Zip gaiters together and lay over your hips or lower legs, or shoulders or wherever cold seeps in. None of these “cold patches” make for as comfortable a night as at home but they make a world of difference in how warm and how much sleep we can get when a bivy night goes sideways.

But as to the original query, in a camp or truck, take plenty, more than you need. Then be prepared to improvise with towels as blankets, whatever it takes if plan A isn't working.

Marmot Helium works for me. Mummy it up and wear a cap and you will be fine. A puff jacket keeps you toasty even in that “wet” cold. I recently switched to a 4 season neo air pad. Something like 2.5 inches thick. Cost me an arm/leg but a significant improvement over the old pad I was using.

Storage is everything with the Helium’s. Keep em loose, and they stay fluffy. I did bring mine back to life once by sticking it in the drier with a shoe.

I have a hybrid bag (down on top and synthetic on the bottom.which is rated at -15C and is comfortable at -10 C if I use a liner and wear long underwear. I have an arctic survival bag (down) which is comfortable at -25C . If possible, I like to make up a bed of boughs from whatever tree is available. A 6 inch mat of pine and spruce is warm, dry, and comfortable. Put a foam pad on top and it's better than a lot of hotel beds. GD

That applies to ALL bags, down and synthetic alike. I once ruined a couple really good synthetic bags by leaving them tightly rolled all winter. They never fluffed up again. A mesh laundry bag from Walmart only costs a few $$ and will allow the bag to breath while stored. Hanging is best if you have the closet space.